Saturday afternoon we did another Blogosphere radio show – a back to school special! It really is quite funny I think, so watch for it. Hopefully I will have it posted soon! Megan was our guest on this show.

That night Megan, Andrew, Jane, Yi-Li and I went to Kelsey’s for dinner, then back to Inge’s to play Cranium. In case you are not sure, Cranium is one of the games they sell at Starbucks. I must say, it was really fun! Jane and Megan beat Inge, Ylz and me in the first game, and China beat Canada (like the Olympics) in the second game.

Check out some photos from the game here, or just click on this picture:

Nick you missed out, you should have come! Tons of fun!

I think the IOC needs to make some major rule changes. First and foremost, they need to remove the judged “sports” from the Olympic GAMES. Crap like synchro-diving, figure skating, and trampoline have got to go. It just sickens me to see these judged sports take place.

Perhaps more realistically, the IOC should change the rule that bars athletes from writing firsthand accounts for news and other websites, including blogs. The only exception is if an athlete has a personal website they did not setup specifically for the Games.

Their rationale for the rule makes sense – the interests of broadcast rightsholders and accredited media come first. But hello! Did they miss the Demoratic National Convention? Are they not paying attention to the preparations for the upcoming Republican National Convention (including blogs!)? Maybe the IOC needs to wake up and see that blogs are here to stay. Regulate it like these political conventions, but don’t disallow it completely!

I have recently completed (somewhat) two new websites: YRAP and NSLD. The first site is for the Youth Restorative Action Project, a Youth Justice Committee centered in Edmonton. The second site is for National School Library Day, which takes place Monday, October 25th, 2004.

If you get a moment, take a look and give me your feedback!

I don’t know what it is with me and traveling during school. Remember final exams? Yep I went to Seattle just days before they started. And now I am doing it again! School starts on the 8th of September, and I leave for Toronto on the 10th. I am only gone for the weekend though, so I probably won’t miss anything. Pretty hard to get jetlag just from TO.

What am I going for, you ask? Well for “training” of course! Once again I will be the Student Ambassador to Microsoft on campus for the 2004/2005 school year. I only know the basics of what is planned for this year so far, but I will be sure to post more when I find out! And yes, I am going to get all of you involved.

And to think I was dreading the start of school!

FIRST OFF: If you have sent me any important email in the last month, please send it to me again. I lost all mail sent or received after July 5th due to a problem with my computer on Monday night.

Okay so in a manner of speaking, I’m back. My parents left Edmonton yesterday on their five day journey back to Inuvik (decided to take it a little slower on the way back). It seems like they arrived here just yesterday, but that’s how it is I suppose. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Yesterday was a busy day. After helping my parents pack up and get on their way in the morning, I went to my grandparents (northside) to setup my sister’s computer. While I was there, Papa and I decided to run a network cable from the router (in the basement) up to his computer so that he too could be on the high speed Internet. Well, who would have thought how much trouble it would be! I am no longer surprised they don’t make houses like they used to – old houses are built so strongly you can’t change them! In the end we ran 50 feet of ethernet cable, drilled four holes, and spent a lot of time trying to fish cable from one hole to another.

I thought I was feeling better yesterday too, but I guess I wasn’t really! Last night I started to feel quite sick again, so I loaded up on the appropriate drugs and went to bed:

Needless to say, I feel much better today so far! I guess we’ll see how long it lasts this time. For now, time to get to work – the “vacation” is over!

My apologies if I have missed a message or something from any of you recently – I admit I have kinda disappeared lately. With my parents in town, I have been quite busy and wasn’t home at all this weekend, not even to sleep. But, when you only see your parents once a year, you want to make it worthwhile you know?

Anyhow, my Dad and I were up very early Saturday morning to do some photography (early as in about 6 so that we could catch the fog on the farms, etc). I learned quite a bit about that digital camera of mine – I’ll have to post some of the pictures I took. And we were up early again this morning to see Michael Schumacher win his 12th race of the season (a new record), and Ferrari lock up the constructor’s championship with their 7th 1-2 finish of the year.

I cannot believe it is already the 16th of August…time sure flies when you want it to slow down. My parents leave Edmonton on Tuesday, and my sister arrives on the 25th. Should be a busy next few weeks!

I haven’t been blogging as much lately, nor have I been around on MSN, but my parents are here so I have a valid excuse! Anyway, I was at home most of today doing some work and catching up on things, and I came across Northern Voice. It is a one day, non-profit blogging conference that’s being held at the UBC downtown campus on February 19, 2005.

Registration opens September 1st. Looks like a very interesting idea, and judging by the website it appears to be very well planned (and well in advance too). Perhaps I will have to consider attending – if not as a speaker (I could chat up Blogosphere.ca) then as a delegate. Gotta represent good old Alberta!

And of course, if I decide to go I’ll have to whip up a display picture!

Last night Andrew hosted a Poker/XBOX Party at his house. And of course, what party is complete without BPs? It was good times, good to see John and Peter for the first time this summer as well! Also in attendance was Megan, Jane, YiLi, Felicia, Warren, and Joe! I guess looking back the poker party quickly turned into an XBOX party, but it was fun.

We had some fun with my new digital camera, so be sure to check out the photo gallery for the party here!

As many of you know my parents arrived in town on Thursday evening, safe and sound, and so today was my first full day with them. We accomplished quite a bit, and yes (sorry Megan – but don’t worry I’d go again), we went to see M. Night Shyamalan‘s The Village tonight.

I loved this movie – it was really, really awesome! I don’t want to give anything away, which is why this post is not titled review as I normally would have done. Instead, all I will say is that Shyamalan further solidifies his place in Hollywood, and Byce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix and especially Adrien Brody all give amazing performances. Really excellent casting for this movie.

The one other thing I will mention is that you English majors will absolutely love this film. In fact, I am sure the movie will leave you drooling for a book to be analyzed in class. Go see The Village!

If you’ve ever used ICQ2GO, or whatever the web based version is called, you probably now hate web based messenger tools. But you have to check out MSN Web Messenger with an open mind – it’s awesome! Looks just like your MSN Messenger contact list and chat windows, even plays the correct sounds, the works.

Perfect for when you need MSN and are too lazy to install it, or when you don’t trust the computers at school. Enjoy!